You're Next
by BrittanyBrighttheMagikatin
Summary: Russell begins to suspect something very horrifying about his energetic spider monkey friend Minka. Could it be possible she is a sadistic psychopath who enjoys painting pictures with her own blood and killing others just for fun? And the worst part is, nobody else believes him! He'd better find a way to avoid falling victim to Minka's endless torment... because he's next...
1. Do You Want to See My Painting?

**This is just a tryout for a new LPS horror story, inspired by Wormtail96's unfinished story, ****_Space Monkey._**** I got the idea as I was taking my Algebra 1 exam. *Insert any form of exasperation, laughter, or sarcasm here***

"Where's Minka?"

Penny Ling was looking all over the place, obviously in search of everyone's favorite pink spider monkey. She scratched her head in confusion, her lightly tinted purple-gray eyes shining in desperation, which lightened up in hope when she spotted Zoe and Pepper walking into the daycare center, just recently ending their 'BFF time'.

"Zoe, Pepper, have you two seen Minka anywhere?" the purple and white panda asked as she walked over to the lilac dog and gray skunk.

"I'm afraid not, darling," Zoe apologized.

"Yeah, I haven't seen her either," Pepper added. A mischievous smile suddenly crept onto her face as she began to raise her voice so it rang out throughout the pet shop, catching the attention of a certain hedgehog, gecko, and mongoose playing Poker near the far side of the daycare. "How about we ask somebody who's closest to Minka? Perhaps a certain, oh, I dunno, _hedgehog?"_

"Seriously, Pepper," Russell grunted in exasperation. He turned away from his two friends to face the peckish pet; Vinnie leaned closer to peek at the hedgehog's cards. "What do you want?"

"I'm trying to find Minka so I can show her a creative and fun way of painting," Penny Ling answered just as Pepper readied to reply. "but I can't find her anywhere. I know she came in earlier, and I'm getting worried. Please say you'll help..."

Sighing, Russell turned back to Vinnie and Sunil, just after Vinnie quickly sat back up. "I'll be back, guys."

"Why can't those girls just figure out their own problems for crying out loud?" Vinnie muttered, flinging his hand of cards down on the ground in frustration.

"At least it won't be for long, right, Russell?" Sunil asked in his thick Indian-accent as his friend stood up.

"With these girls, we never know," he couldn't help but comment silently.

"Yeah, it's not like we can't totally hear everything you three are saying over there!" Pepper called in irritated sarcasm.

Choosing to ignore the comment, the hedgehog began looking around the daycare center for the artist monkey. He finally detected a noise followed by some movement in the hole of the slide play station. He trotted up to it and climbed up the slide, then sighed when he found Minka sitting with her back turned to him, limply tracing a single finger on the wall. An unknown paint, dark colored, was spattered all over the place, mainly on her tiny paws and wrists, which strangely literally dripped down her long arms like water.

"Minka, didn't you hear Penny Ling calling for you?" Russell asked. He waited for a response and lowered his eyebrows into a frustrated glare when he didn't receive one. "Minka, can't you hear me?"

"Is that you, Russell?" Minka finally spoke in a horribly out-of-character tone of voice; instead of bubbly and excited, she sounded tired and even almost death-like. This made a shiver travel down the hedgehog's spine.

"Uh... yes. Yes, it's me." Russell wiped away a single sweat drop trickling down the side of his head. "Minka, are you feeling okay?"

Instead of answering, the monkey began to rock back and forth, eerily humming a tune that would sound very lively if Zoe sang it. Russell shuddered, yet he forced himself to climb all the way through the hole.

"Minka, are you okay?" he repeated more strictly. He still didn't get a response. "Minka, answer me!"

He watched as the monkey reached out her paw to grab a long, flat object on the floor next to her. Russell stepped in closer and felt his blood turn to ice when he realized it was a sharp knife. Minka carefully placed the blade on her wrist, then, swiftly and carelessly, sliced a large gap into her flesh, watching limply as fresh warm blood spurted out of the wound.

Russell gagged, just barely managing to keep down his lunch. He watched in horror as Minka placed her free hand on the wound, slowing down the spurting, and used the scarlet red liquid to continue painting on the wall. The hedgehog looked at all the splotches of paint on the walls and monkey and realized with a jolt as if he were struck by lightning...

...that it wasn't paint at all.

_It was Minka's blood._

"M-M-Minka..." Russell finally managed to find his voice, which was quivering just as hard as his knees and even his quills. He felt strangely cold all over and multiple beads of sweat were trickling down his head. Swallowing hard, he continued hesitantly. "Wh-Why are you doing this to yourself...?"

The monkey ignored the hedgehog's question. She just continued her humming, still rocking back and forth slowly. After about half a minute, she stopped.

"You still here...?" she rasped, her soft voice spreading over Russell like a shadow, threatening to swallow him up in a pit of never-ending darkness that would forever haunt his soul.

"Y-Yes..." Russell squeaked like a kitten who lost its mother.

"In that case..." Suddenly, Minka's head quickly snapped into a full 180 degrees, smiling wickedly. Blood was spattered all over her face and her razor-sharp teeth were stained in blood. Her light pink hair was messy and sticking out in all directions, also stained in blood, and her right pigtail was gone, as well as the light blue beaded hairband. A knife was jabbed halfway through her left eye, still bleeding fresh blood, while the other eye started right into Russell's soul, her light blue iris and pupil shrunk down as if she were a serial killer. "Do you want to see my painting?"

Quick flashes suddenly overtook the horrified hedgehog. In a heartbeat, he saw all the daycare pets brutally beaten and murdered under the vicious claws and teeth of Minka Mark. Eyes were slashed, throats were ripped out, and stomachs were torn open. The insane monkey stepped aside and showed Russell her 'masterpiece', which was simply two horrifying words written in blood.

_You're Next_

Letting out an ear-splitting scream, Russell backed away from the monkey as quickly as he could, realizing too late that his hind paw had slipped on the slide, causing him to lose balance and tumble down the slide. He landed hard on his back, then sat up, staring at the hole in horror.

The images he just saw flooded back to him in quick flashes, only this time he heard the screams of his pet friends and the psychopathic laughter of their tormentor during the Littlest Pet Shop massacre. He began to breath hard as the last image scorched into his mind.

_You're Next_

_"Russell!"_

The hedgehog let out a wail and blinked, realizing it was all just his imagination.

In reality, all five pets, Penny Ling, Zoe, Pepper, Vinnie, and Sunil were looking at him in concern, confusion, and worry.

"Russell, are you okay?" Sunil asked with full concern and worry, even a little tint of fear mingled with his foreign accent.

"We heard you scream and saw you tumbling out of the slide play station," Zoe explained.

"Then you were breathing hard and kept staring at the hole," Penny Ling added.

"We tried to get your attention, but you wouldn't look away," Pepper fretted.

"Man, whatever it was, it must have been bad because you were actually _crying,"_ Vinnie finished.

Russell blinked and felt a semi-warm liquid trickle from his eyes down his wet cheeks. He really _had_ been crying.

"What happened, Russell?" Penny Ling whimpered. "Is Minka all right?"

_Minka._ The name... That very name...

The name of the insane monkey who threatened to destroy everything he loved and held close to him...

The name of the once so sweet and innocent pet whom he actually developed a strong liking to...

The name of the vile creature who swore to kill him with two simple words...

_You're Next_

**A/N: Yeah, I just wanted to try this new idea out, and to be honest, I REALLY like it! I am ALL over gore and torture and whatnot, as well as LPS, so... yeah, this is what happens when you are a sadistic teenager with no life whose summer vacation is just about to start. XD**

**I hope you all like this creepy, disturbing, psychopathic, yet unique story. :D**

**One more thing to mention. Yes, this does strongly involve Russinka (RussellXMinka), but how this plays out... You'll just have to see.**

**Please like, favorite, follow, review, and do whatever it is you want to do. I always appreciate any feedback and reviews for this story. ^^**


	2. All in My Head

_"Russell, snap out of it!"_

Russell blinked his eyes again, flooding once again back into reality. Looks of concern were turned into worry, fear, and even irritation.

"Penny Ling asked you a question, dude!" Pepper raised her voice at the shaken hedgehog; she and Vinnie were the only pets who were irritated.

"Why are you spacing out?" Vinnie asked. "You look as if you just saw Minka with a knife."

_"I did!"_ Russell suddenly cried out, realizing too late that he had just announced his fear and thoughts out loud.

"Minka wouldn't be caught _dead_ with one of those things!" Zoe snapped, obviously very defensive over her monkey friend. The breath was caught in the hedgehog's throat.

He was gradually getting more horrified every second he talks to them.

"I...I have to go..." Russell finally squeaked nervously, climbing to his feet and trotting to the dumb waiter quickly.  
He stopped head when he, along with everyone else, heard some noises from the slide play station.

Suddenly, Minka's head popped out, still with the horrifying features. The knife, the blood, the teeth...

"Hi, Russell! I finished my painting! Come see it!" the crazed monkey shrieked like a maniac. "I made it _just for you!"_

Russell let out yet another ear-splitting scream and bolted to the dumb waiter on all fours, swinging the hatch open and launching himself in when he came up to it.

"Wait!" The hedgehog's eyes nearly popped right out of his head when he saw Minka bolt towards him, still wearing that psychopathic grin and carrying a large sharp knife in her tail.

Heart racing, the panicked and hyperventilating hedgehog let out another wail of terror and slammed the hatch shut, then yanked on the rope as hard and fast as he could, bringing himself up to Blythe's room.

**XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX**

Minka stood by the dumbwaiter, tail falling limp and the paintbrush rolling out of her tail's grip. Both light blue eyes shined in despair and both pigtails deflated and hung like limp rag dolls on the sides of her head.

"I thought Russell wanted to see my painting..." Minka whimpered, sadness shaking her voice heavily. She sniffed and looked at her other pet friends, just near tears. "Why did he run away...?"

"I can't _believe_ he would just run away like you were some kind of craized maniac!" Sunil barked angrily, amber eyes blazing.

And just like that, everyone started shouting and muttering in confusion, all shooting angry comments and insults to the unpresent hedgehog one way or another.

All except for Penny Ling, of course.

"Hold on, everyone," she chimed in, waiting for everyone to stop chattering. They held their angry glances at the young panda, though it wasn't her they were mad at. "Maybe Russell had some kind of nightmare last night and now he's starting to see things. These things happen sometimes."

"That doesn't give him the right to accuse Minka of being some kind of psycho killer," Vinnie retorted, crossing his arms and raising an eyebrow matter-of-factly.

"You're right; it doesn't. But we just need to give him a chance to at least explain himself."

"In case you didn't hear, he practically shouted, _OMG, I just saw Minka in the slide play station holding a knife!"_ Pepper shouted, mimicking Russell's panicked tone of voice the best she could, not even trying to be funny or poke fun. She returned to her normal voice. "That pretty much explains a lot, doncha think?"

"Well... he never did it before..." Minka finally spoke cautiously. "Maybe... Maybe he had a logical reason for... running away..." She sniffed again and wiped away a tear building up in her left eye.

The pets only grunted, not responding to the monkey openly, yet not letting go of their grudge with Russell either.

"How about we go talk to him?" Penny Ling suggested with a soft smile. "We can get the details from him that way. But so he doesn't freak out again, Minka, you can stay down here. ...If you want to," she added quickly.

Minka looked down sadly, then brought her eyes up to meet Penny Ling's. "Okay. You just tell me what he said once you get all the details."

**A/N: Yep, it does show here that in reality the entire scene of Minka with blood all over her and a knife sticking out of her eye was just 'Russelled jimmies.' (Oh, God, I'm so corny...) But that doesn't mean Minka is a craized psycho...**

**Or does it...?**

**Please like, favorite, follow, review, and do whatever it is you want to do. I always appreciate any feedback and reviews for this story. ^^**


	3. Disappointment, Ashame, and Hatred

The five pets had climbed into the dumbwaiter and began pulling down on the rope, bringing the cart up towards Blythe's room, the same place Russell went to flee from Minka.

"I hope that, whatever is going on, it blows over soon," Penny Ling hoped softly, looking down at her paws.

"I hope that Russell will actually man up and stop running away like a wu-" Pepper growled, but Zoe interrupted her.

"What if he is right...?" Zoe yipped thoughtfully yet regretfully. "I mean, since when have we _ever_ seen Russell act this way before?" None of the pets answered. "Right. Never. He might have good reason to act this way, as what Penny Ling says.

"Doesn't excuse himself for acting like a wu-" Pepper tried to finish her sentence again, but the dumbwaiter sharply stopped, startling everyone momentarily. "Aw, forget it..."

"Russell?" Vinnie called out cautiously, lifting up the hatch and looking around. "Rusty, are you in here?"

"Hey, guys," a new female voice greeted. The pets looked up and saw Blythe Baxter, their human friend, sitting on her bed. It had been a week since she returned from F.U.N. "Are you looking for Russell?"

"Yes, we are," Sunil confirmed, nodding his head. "We came to talk to him about his behavior towards Minka."

Suddenly, everyone heard a muffled squeak of fear. Everyone looked and saw a brown spiky ball laying underneath Blythe's desk.

"Huh. How did I not see him there?" Blythe bent down and carefully picked up the ball, everyone knowing it was Russell doing the thing all hedgehogs do when frightened or threatened, and sat back down on her bed, placing him in her lap. "Russell, what's going on? Why are you acting the way you are towards Minka?"

"I _really_ don't want to talk about it..." the hedgehog muffled.

"What did he do?" Blythe asked, turning to the pets.

"Well, I was trying to find Minka so I could show her a new and fun way to paint by swinging my old and worn out ribbon around," Penny Ling started. "But I couldn't find him, so Pepper asked Russell to find her."

"Suddenly, we heard an ear-splitting scream coming from the slide play station and we looked to see him tumbling out of it, staring at the hole in horror," Pepper continued.

"We were trying to get his attention, but he wouldn't look away, and then we saw him starting to cry! _Russell Ferguson, crying!"_ Vinnie shouted.

"When he finally came to, we began to accuse him of thinking he saw Minka with a knife or something, and he said he actually did!" Sunil piped in.

"I really did, Sunil!" Russell snapped, unrolling out of his ball position and glaring at the mongoose through furious sap green eyes, making him flinch.

"Finally, he ran away screaming," Zoe quickly finished.

"Russell, why are you saying Minka was holding a knife?" Blythe asked, more confused than accusive herself.

"You have to believe me, Blythe, I _saw_ her with a knife! I _saw_ her in the hole painting with her own blood! I _saw_ her with a psychopathical grin and a knife stabbed through her eye!"

"Give it a rest!" Pepper snarled. "Nobody's gonna believe that crazy story! If anything, you're just trying to bust Minka!"

"No, I'm not! I swear! I saw her! A-And she wanted to kill me!"

_"Russell!"_ Blythe raised her voice sharply. The hedgehog looked up into the human's blue eyes and saw anger and disappointment in them. "How _dare_ you say those horrible things about Minka? I thought she was your friend!"

"B-Blythe..." Russell could feel his quills sagging down along his back. "Not you too..."

"What, you actually expect me to believe that Minka's trying to kill one of her best friends?"

"B-But I-" He stopped when Blythe raised up a hand; obviously she was trying to keep calm.

"You're overreacting... as usual." Russell flinched as the insult was thrown at him. "And this time you're taking it out on your friend." Finally, she opened her eyes and glared at him. "Russell, I am _very_ disappointed in you."

The hedgehog let out a tiny gasp of despair and began to feel tears building up at the corners of his eyes.

"I think disappointed is an understatement," Zoe growled. _"Ashamed_ is more like it!"

"You selfish, ungrateful little _porcupine!"_ Pepper lashed out.

"And they say _I'm_ an idiot!" Vinnie snapped.

"You are a disgrase to the entire name of friendship!" Sunil barked.

Russell began to whimper, knowing all of his friends had turned on him. Hopefully, he turned to Penny Ling, knowing she was the only one out of them all to still have faith in him.

But he saw no hope or forgiveness in her eyes... nor did he see disappointment...

He saw an emotion that no one had ever seen in the little panda's eyes.

"I hate you..." she whispered harshly, her soft voice striking him like cobra venom. Even Blythe and the pets were strongly taken aback by her sudden outrage.

"D-Don't you think hate is a little strong...?" Pepper whimpered, for once during this turn of events trying do defend Russell.

"He's lucky I didn't use _despise!"_ Penny Ling roared. "Minka is your friend, and from what we all saw, you see her as more than just friends, but you just treat her like a psycho killer and nothing more! How about _me,_ huh? Do you think _I'm_ a psycho killer too? Are you gonna toss all your friends aside and hide from them needlessly like the **_pussy_** you are?" She panted, not leaving the hedgehog's horrified sap green stare. Yes, she was furious - stronger than that - and this time there was no shimmer of tears in her lightly tinted purple-gray eyes.

It was the shimmer of pure _hatred._

"You _disgust_ me, Russell Ferguson," she finally spoke. "And until you fix this problem of yours, I never want to see you again!" And with that, the panda began to stomp towards the dumbwaiter; Vinnie moved his tail out of the way to make sure she wouldn't crush it again.

"I think you should leave," Blythe agreed. She glared down at Russell, not with hatred like the panda, or ashame like the dog, but disappointment. "You, too."

Shrinking back, the hedgehog leaped out of the human's lap and slowly padded on all fours towards the dumbwaiter, his head hung down.

"Wait!" Russell looked up, tears still leaking out of his eyes and his ears pressed flat against his head, when he heard Sunil's voice. "We would prefer to return to the daycamp area... _alone."_ The angry mongoose slammed the hatch shut, making the hedgehog flinch.

He dared to look up at Blythe and his heart continued to crumble when he saw she was no longer paying attention to him, but just reading, her eyes still holding that look of disappointment in the hedgehog.

Russell never felt this way before. He never felt so alone... No, he wasn't just alone...

He was _abandoned..._

Curling up against the floor, not even bothering to roll up into a ball, the poor hedgehog sobbed quietly as he waited for the dumbwaiter to be brought back up so he could go back down...

_...alone._

**A/N: ****Everyone came down on Russell hard! Do you think he deserved it? Or do you think he's actually speaking the truth? Post your answer in the reviews if you want to, but I won't give anything away. ;P**

**There's not really much I can say about this chapter, except that once Penny Ling actually _hates_ someone, no doubt their hearts will crumble into a million pieces.**

**Please like, favorite, follow, review, and do whatever it is you want to do. I always appreciate any feedback and reviews for this story. ^^**


	4. Now I See I Was Wrong

It had been over three hours since the entire incident had even started. The sun was setting and everyone's owners have yet to pick their pets up. Everyone was off doing their own things; Zoe and Pepper were working on a new humorous song together, Sunil was practicing his magic, Vinnie and Penny Ling debated on what form of dance was more efficient for the pet shop, and Minka...

Minka was painting...

Even Buttercream Sundae the buttercream-colored rabbit decided to drop by for a short visit.

And all through this time, not a single pet acknowledged or even looked at Russell.

After letting himself down the dumbwaiter alone, he immediately went to a plush pillow on the far side of the room. Bittersweet memories of him playing cards with Vinnie and Sunil earlier that day in that same exact area created an ice ball in his stomach.

_Why did they get so angry at me? They all hate me... I wouldn't be surprised if Penny Ling told Buttercream to be mad at me as well..._

The hedgehog thought he had cried out all his tears and couldn't possibly make any more, but he proved himself wrong when he felt semi-warm liquid falling down his soggy cheeks once again.

"Hey, Russell-bo-Bussell!"

The high-pitched voice startled him and he quickly looked up to see Buttercream smiling giddily at him.

"Pumper-Pinker-Pepper just told me how much of a doosy-woosy-gotta-get-boosy day you had!" the rabbit squeaked as she bounced around. She smiled at Russell again, and suddenly her ears dropped and her smile faded. She had a look of sadness mingled with concern. "Are you okay-dokay-lokay?"

"I'm... I'm fine..." the hedgehog rasped, looking back down at the tear-stained pillow.

"You don't sound fine-a-line," Buttercream rejected. "What happened, nappined?"

"Nothing... Please leave me alone..." He heard the rabbit inhale, ready to say something else, but no crazy made-up words tumbled out of her mouth.

All she said was, "I'm sorry..."

The sounds of hopping that gradually faded away was heard right after. He could've sworn he overheard Vinnie exclaim, "Buttercream? Why where you talking to _him?"_

Why did this had to happen to him? Him, out of all the pets. He had never acted so terribly before... Couldn't they have at least thought it was something other than... whatever this was?

Deeper in despair than he had ever been in his entire hedgehog-spanned life, he closed his eyes, exhausted from all the crying, and drifted into sleep.

But he opened them again when he heard the padding of paws grow louder and louder.

He looked down and saw two dark purple paws. _Oh, no... It's Penny Ling... She's probably gonna scold me further or say she despises me rather than hate me..._

Russell dared to look up to the panda's face and prepared himself to see hatred and fury flashing in her narrowed gray-purple eyes.

But there was none.

"Russell..." Penny Ling started, looking into his yellow-green eyes, eyes shining in sorrow and guilt. She looked down at her paws and tapped them together, ears lowering further down with every word she spoke. "Russell... I'm really sorry we said those horrible things... I'm really sorry... I don't hate you or despise you... I just feel so terrible for saying all those things to you!" Soon after she broke down into tears.

The sight of the sensitive panda crying right in front of him made Russell want to cry harder. However, he forced back tears and hiccups of grief and climbed out of the bed to face her. Penny Ling stopped sobbing when the hedgehog was standing in front of her and she looked past her paws covering her eyes.

"I...I'm the one who should be sorry, Penny..." Russell started, trying his hardest now to tear up. "I don't know what had gotten into me, but... It just... I-I don't..." Lost of words, he looked down, physically unable to look at the pet in front of him anymore.

Silence rung through the pet shop; even the other pets had stopped what they were doing when they heard Penny Ling cry previously and now they watched to see what would happen next.

"Minka's not a monster like you say she is-" Penny Ling finally began.

But Russell shot back at her, momentarily unaware of exactly who he was speaking to. _"I'm sorry, okay?_ I don't know what's going on! I don't know why I keep seeing her with razor-sharp teeth and bleeding wrists! _I just don't know!"_ With a wail, the hedgehog fell to his knees and continued sobbing. He wouldn't be surprised if the panda just stomped away, leaving him to sob.

He was surprised, however, that she didn't leave. She fell on all fours to match my new height and gently pushed her chilly wet nose into the back of my ear, almost as if affectionately on top of comfortingly.

"Don't worry, Russell," she whispered, her voice smooth as silk and sweet as honey. "Things will get better. They always do. Just remember that you are a Littlest Pet Shop pet; you are one of us and we won't ever, _ever_ abandon you no matter what happens. Do you hear me, Russell Ferguson? We will never abandon you... We will never leave you... We will never give up on you..."

* * *

**A/N: Yeeeaaahh, uhh... This is the best I could do after practically a year or something. Sorry, no Minka gore in this chapter. Instead, I wanted someone to actually help Russell and support him, and who would be better for the job than Penny Ling? (Fun fact: I was originally thinking about using Zoe.)**

**Also, I've been reading through my reviews and I must say this: _I DO NOT HATE MINKA!_ I just wanted to use her because of her painting skills, and I was given the idea from Hotdiggedydemon's Swag. MOV when Apple Bloom used Discord's blood to paint the house. I love Minka; she's my second favorite female pet.**

**I'm gonna do my best to stay on top of things with my stories, especially this one and 2012 in Downtown City. Unfortunately, school is now just around the corner - literally, school starts next Monday - so it'll prove to be even more difficult on top of lack of inspiration. But I'll just have to give it my all! :D**


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